Abstract

A finite element procedure to model a single, through width delamination is presented. The sublaminate concept along with multi-point constraint boundary condition is employed to introduce the delamination in laminated composite beam structures. The numerically predicted frequencies are compared with the experimental results to validate the present model. The surface bonded piezoelectric sensors are modelled on the delaminated beams to get the modal responses and are presented as sensor voltages using direct piezoelectric effect. It is found that the sensor voltages reflect the stiffness reduction due to the presence of damage in the structure. The variation in the sensor voltage shows an established trend available in the literature for different delamination locations and sizes. Therefore, the trends observed in the present investigation show that the smart concept can be a viable scheme to predict the damage in composite structures using the dynamic response data, obtained from the distributed bonded/embedded piezoelectric sensors.